Prior
to founding ASCENDANT, Chris Roberts was Chairman and CEO
of Digital Anvil (DA), the game development and digital effects
company he founded. DA became the first interactive entertainment
company to make a game title, WING COMMANDER, into a $25 million
feature film. DA also became a digital effects powerhouse, creating
all of the digital effects for the WING COMMANDER movie and contributing
to the digital effects for several other films, including SPY KIDS.
In December 2000, Roberts sold DA to Microsoft.

A gaming wunderkind, Roberts sold his first
computer game at the age of 14, and by the age of 20, Roberts had
developed three #1 hits in his native U.K. In 1990, Roberts developed
WING COMMANDER, which set a new standard for PC games and evolved
into a franchise series of game titles, all developed and produced by
Roberts. With its cinematic quality, clearly developed storylines
and well-know actors, the WING COMMANDER series created a whole
new genre within the gaming industry known as the interactive movie.
In addition to selling more than 3 million units worldwide by 1995, the
WING COMMANDER series won a record setting number of gaming awards.
To date, the series has generated over $400 million in global retail revenue.

Before joining ASCENDANT, Schimmel was Executive Vice President
of Production for Bel-Air Entertainment where he CO-producedCOLLATERAL
DAMAGE starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. While at Bel-Air, Schimmel
also supervised the productions of SWEET NOVEMBER starring Charlize
Theron and Keanu Reeves; THE REPLACEMENTS starring Keanu Reeves
and Gene Hackman; and the wrestling comedy, READY TO RUMBLE.

Prior to his employment with Bel-Air,Schimmel
was President of Michael DouglassUniversal-based
Further Films, which he helped Michael establish. Schimmel
came to Further from Paramount-based Douglas/Reuther Productions,
a venture between partners Michael Douglas and producer Steve
Reuther.Schimmel served as Senior Vice President of Production
for Douglas/Reuther Productions, where he supervised the production
of John Woos FACE/OFF and post-production of Francis Coppolas
THE RAINMAKER.

Schimmel began his film career as a reader and soon became a production
executive at Warner Bros. There he worked on such films as THE
FUGITIVE, OUTBREAK, UNDER SIEGE, BATMAN, THE LAST BOY SCOUT and INTERVIEW
WITH THE VAMPIRE. He also did all of the early planning, hiring and
buying for Warner Feature Animation.